Electrophoresis is the movement of electrically charged particles that are suspended in a fluid or gel under the influence of an applied electrical field. One of the more routine uses of electrophoretic apparatus is to separate DNA particles into discrete bands for later isolation and recovery. Once a molecular specimen including DNA molecules has been subjected to an electrophoresis procedure, several methods are available for removing a specific DNA band from an electrophoretic gel. A first method involves cutting out the identified DNA band from the gel, dissolving the gel and then precipitating the DNA. A second method involves making a slit into the gel in the direction of migration of a DNA band that is to be segregated. An immobilized support is then inserted into the gel slit and the electric field re-applied across the gel. This causes the DNA band to migrate and bond to the support, which can then be removed to enable elution of the DNA from the support. Each of the aforementioned method requires processing of either the gel or the support to recover the DNA, which processing results in an inevitable loss of some of the DNA.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for DNA recovery from an electrophoresis apparatus.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for recovery of a DNA band from an electrophoresis apparatus, which apparatus achieves improved yields of recovered DNA.